Christmas Pranks
by Wolfie0103
Summary: I wonder what the Marauders get up to on their Christmas Holiday in sixth year... especially when Lily, Marlene and Alice come around!
1. Prongs

**Author's note: I was feeling particularly festive around this time of year, and so I wanted to do a christmassy fan fiction. And what better to do it about than what our favourite marauders get up to in their spare time? Hope you enjoy! This should be a four-shot (I think.) Thank you to my friend Dragoneye for co-authoring with me.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff, JK Rowling does, and I am in no way, shape or form JK Rowling.**

 **Although that would be cool.**

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Chapter 1: Prongs

Godric's Hollow was a peaceful, picturesque village. In wintertime, rain would fall and make the neatly cobbled stone streets sparkle and shine in the morning sun. In those rare occasions when it snowed it would settle on the rooftops, and make the whole village look like a scene from a Christmas card. However, winter, and particularly the last weeks of December going into New Year, were never quiet. That was because James Potter and his mates came home for Christmas.

The small carriage trundled along the road, almost flipping at one nasty pothole, and reached groaning stop in front of the Potter Manor. James Potter stepped out first. During the start of his sixth year at Hogwarts, he'd grown tremendously, and was much taller than his best mate, Sirius, who used the moment as an advantage, and pushed James head first into the nearest snow bank. James spat out snow, and glared at Sirius, who had now doubled over with laughter. Remus Lupin was chuckling, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the two idiots he had happened to befriend, who were currently rolling around in the snow for no apparent reason.

"Boys! That's enough!" sighed Mrs Potter wearily. She was getting too old for this kind of nonsense from her son and just-as-well-as sons. As soon as she came round the corner, little Peter Pettigrew holding up her bags for her, the two boys jumped to attention.

"Good evening Mrs Potter, Sir! Ready to eat yummy food, Sir!" Sirius proclaimed as he saluted Mrs Potter, who made no move to contain a roll of her eyes.

"Oh, just get inside, you lot."

Sirius winked at her and grabbed James' and Remus' arm, pulling them towards the house whilst telling them a rather risque story involving Madam Rosmerta, a black dog and a barrel of mead. Peter staggered after them holding quite a bit of luggage.

Remus and Peter were sharing a bedroom, and they were just about to drop off to sleep, at quite a respectable time, when Sirius sneaked into the room and shut the door, finger to his lips. He had a mischievous look on his face.

"Alright boys, listen up. Remember just before we left, when James made my hair pink and your skin orange and magenta?" The other two boys winced at the painful memory and nodded. Sirius smiled evilly. "Well, I think it's time to pay him back, don't you?"

When James woke up the next morning, he had a funny feeling. Like when a spot was on his face, but he couldn't see it. Sirius had occupied the bathroom for his daily hair maintenance routine, so he knocked on the door and yelled,

"Oi, mate, anything wrong with my face?" Sirius opened the door, took a long look and said

"Nope. I can't see anything."

Unfortunately, James didn't hear him burst out laughing once the door was closed.

James still felt like there was something wrong with his head, so when he came downstairs to see Remus and Pettigrew having breakfast, he took the opportunity and asked,

"There's nothing wrong with my face, is there? I mean, I don't trust Sirius not to have drawn a moustache on me whilst I slept." Remus and Peter took a look and shrugged,

"No, can't see anything." whilst trying very hard to keep a straight face. Sirius finally came down, and started helping himself to hot chocolate. Mrs Potter heard the telltale signs and entered the kitchen.

"Sirius, you know perfectly well, you're not to have hot chocolate in the morning, unless it's your birthday, or Christmas Day…" She caught sight of her son, eating some scrambled eggs.

"James, dear, why do you have two great, dirty antlers sticking out the top of your head with 'I love Lily Evans' strung between them in fairy lights?"

James felt his head, with a panic. He shrugged, realising he must've partially transformed when he was sleeping (It had happened before) and closed his eyes to magic them away. He heard a pop and felt the top of his head. They were still there, and, if possible, bigger than they were before! He turned an accusatory glare on his friends, who just couldn't hold it in anymore. They started howling with laughter, and so did Mrs Potter, coming in to see what the ruckus was about, but James was yet to see the funny side of things.

"Sirius! Are you kidding me?" I can't have antlers!" Sirius shrugged nonchalantly.

"I'm just getting you back for the pink hair, mate."

Bang, crash, and a large owl flew through the window. All four boys made a dive to get out of the way, and it was only afterwards, when the owl was preening itself on the old oak table, that they recognised it as Marlene's.

"Wonder what she wants," muttered Sirius, reaching for the crisp letter tied to the owl's foot. As he read, his mouth slowly turned into an enormous grin.

" _Dear Marauders,_

 _It has come to my attention that my parents have decided to visit the Potters, to pay their Yuletide greetings. Lily and Alice, of course, are staying at my house, so we are being dragged along as well, despite our protests. There is the right amount for a Quidditch team, hm?_

 _Best regards,_

 _Marlene_." James hid his face in his hands as the Marauders once more burst into raucous laughs. Sirius in particular, had an evil glint in his eye.

"Sorry mate, but I'm not getting rid of those antlers, or the fairy lights, any time soon."

In the days coming up to the visit from the McKinnons, James spent an awful lot of time in his room. The rest of the Marauders could've sworn they heard explosions, cursing, a thud as if someone had a kicked a wall and more cursing. Eventually he emerged on the day of their visit, face miserable, still with the ridiculous antlers on his head. He moaned at Sirius.

"You put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the fairy lights, didn't you?" The Marauders sniggered. "I could deal with the antlers, but the lights? Really?" They all shrugged, with looks that quite clearly stated, _You're getting what you deserved"_. The doorbell rang and James dived under the table. "Please, Merlin, no. That can't be them." Sirius smirked.

"I think it is!" Mrs Potter bustled towards the door and opened it.

"Oh, Camilla, it's been much too long! And is this your daughter? By Merlin, Marlene, how much you've grown! Why, come in girls! I dare say the boys are in the kitchen, sneaking cookies while I'm distracted," Peter froze with his hand inside the cookie jar. "but, I don't really mind, it is a special day after all - Merlin's beard, they're probably not even dressed yet, the slobs that they often are. BOYS!" This last comment was directed towards the Marauders, who froze and looked down at their pajamas in an expression of utmost desperation before a quick-thinking Sirius summoned their clothes from their rooms. He smirked at the rest of them. So far, Sirius was the only one allowed to do magic outside of school and don't even think he'd been teasing the rest of the Marauders about it for a long, long time - ever since his birthday in fact. Sirius usually resented the fact he was the second shortest in the group. Not a minute too soon, the boys scrambled into their Muggle clothes as the girls came waltzing into the kitchen. James was still under the table.

"Oh, boys, you are dressed," Mrs Potter exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. All three Marauders were standing awkwardly in front of the table, trying to make sure James wasn't spotted. They didn't quite feel it was fair for them to subject James to the kind of cruelty the girls could whip up, especially with the fairy lights. They nodded to the girls cordially.

"Evans, Prewett, McKinnon. They inclined their heads at the sound of their names. Suddenly a plate of toast fell off the table, and Sirius heard a quiet whisper of "Oi! Padfoot!" over the sudden crash the plate made. He ducked around on the pretense of picking the plate up. James was looking at him anxiously.

"Create a distraction. The Marauders need to talk." Sirius nodded, signaled to Remus and Peter and charmed the doorbell to ring whilst simultaneously transfiguring a dish into a rat to chase the girls out of the kitchen. Chaos erupted and under the cover of the din, all four Marauders sneaked out and ran up to James' bedroom. Once they were sure they were all clear, James turned to them worriedly.

"Guys, we need to take these antlers off. What if the girls guess? All three of them are as shrewd as foxes."

Peter looked at Remus expectantly, who looked, with his eyebrows raised, at Sirius, who groaned, looking thoroughly disappointed, and cast the counter-spell. James sighed in relief, then they all trooped back downstairs. It seemed that the girls had fixed the doorknob and transfigured the rat back into a dish, and had now all fixed similar glares on the boys. Remus and Peter watched with bated breath as James busied himself making a cup of orange juice, the first thing to pass his lips this morning, and sneakily looking over his shoulder to get a glimpse of the abashed Sirius being admonished whilst very satisfactorily running his hands through his hair, a feat he had not been able to perform with antlers.

"Sirius, I know perfectly well that was you. You're the only one of you four allowed to do magic, and since you all were gone by the time I turned back around, I think you were trying to get away from spending time with us. What do you have to say for yourself?" Sirius shrugged. "Just a prank." All three girls rolled their eyes and Mrs Potter shook her head.

"Honestly, you've already pranked James, although I see he's back to normal." James choked on his orange juice. This made the girls very confused. And curious.

"Well, you can occupy the girls now. Merlin knows I could do a break. And try not to get on each other's nerves? The girls are staying for the rest of the holiday." At this James spat his mouthful of drink out and started spluttering complaints, but his mother cut him short.

"Really, James, it's not so bad. You've only got another week and a half before you go back to school. And they're here for the ball, mostly. What did you expect?" She and Mrs McKinnon departed from the room, shaking their heads in exasperation. Marlene turned to the Marauders with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

"So, what were you saying happened to James?" The Marauders looked at each other, then Sirius said "Don't ask us for secrets, and we'll tell you no lies. Come on, we'll teach you how to play Quidditch. Properly."


	2. Padfoot

**Well, here's the second chapter. Hope you're enjoying it, because I am - it's given me lots of ideas for pranks and I find myself coming up with new ones everyday. Also this next chapter was my favourite one to write, and dream up. Also, thanks to Dragoneye0103 again, and also my friend Jade, who has been reading through them and giving me glowing feedback - although most of it after I post. I apologise if I got birthdays wrong - also, I hope you like the almost revelation!**

 **2nd disclaimer - I don't own Harry Potter - although, if I did, I would make a Marauders series (please, Joanna, please)**

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Chapter 2: Padfoot

James decided he was going to get Sirius back for the antlers. He just didn't know how, so he thought, and he thought, and he thought he was probably going to need some help. He went next door into Remus and Peter's room and surprise, surprise, both of them were sitting up, chatting about their latest prank. As soon as they saw James, they nodded. They knew what this would be about.

"We can't let Sirius get away with what he did. He nearly blew our cover! Besides, I've been longing to get him back for that time when he kept passing Lily notes explicitly stating how much he wanted her to steal our chocolate frogs, and then gave them to her." The other boys nodded thoughtfully. Remus had an idea.

"What about… hmm, that's not going to work." The other boys looked up at him.

"Why not?" James asked.

"Because it needs a charm, and none of us are allowed to do magic yet. Unless you want to involve the girls…" he trailed off at the less than happy look on Peter's face. But James was considering it.

"We'll hear your plan, and then we'll decide." Remus shook his head.

"Sirius might be listening. I just need to tell the girls my… ah, secret, and then fill them in on some rudimentary elements." The boys just looked at him, astonished. Then James said,

"It's up to you, mate." Remus sighed. He knew a day like this would come. And, well, he suspected the girls already knew his secret, or at least half of it. Everyone knew he disappeared every full moon. Everyone knew his nickname was Moony. Everyone knew his boggart was the moon - how he had hated that lesson. Everyone knew his patronus was a wolf. It wasn't too hard to figure it out, in fact, he'd already had about three Ravenclaw girls ask him whether he was a werewolf. He said no, of course. He grimaced to himself, but then imagined Sirius' face. Now, that would be something. He grinned up at the boys

"Let's go for it."

Lily, Marlene and Alice were sleeping in the second spare bedroom across the hallway. Sirius was an incredibly light sleeper, and it was on this that most of the plan was based on, but they didn't want him to wake up prematurely, so James had slipped a Sleeping Potion into his nightly hot chocolate. He could only be woken up by an elephant at this point. Or perhaps a basilisk. Remus steeled himself and prepared to open the door, but found a hand on his shoulder. He looked around. James and Peter were there, determined looks on their faces. Remus opened the door.

Lily was chatting to Marlene and Alice about their respective crushes (Frank Longbottom for Alice, and apparently non-existent ones on Sirius Black and James Potter) when Remus entered the room, and they immediately looked worried at the sight of his rapidly paling face. Remus was the reasonable Marauder, and the one who the girls actually liked. This wouldn't stop them killing him if he overheard what they said, though, especially since Marlene had been talking about his dreamy blue eyes. It got worse when James and Peter came in after him. Lily tried, extremely hard, not to blush. Her friends had been consistently moaning at her about the fact that Potter and her were 'simply perfect for each other.' She definitely didn't want Potter's over inflated ego to become bigger than it already was.

The boys came in to see three extremely different expressions on the girls' faces. Lily was blushing slightly, Alice looked inquisitive and Marlene was caught somewhere between disgust and murder. Remus gulped. This was becoming harder by the second.

"I've got something I need to tell you." He looked back. Peter gave him an encouraging smile and James flashed him a quick thumbs-up. He looked back around. All the girls were looking quite curious. "I have this problem, something happens to me once a month…" he trailed off at the incredulous looks on their faces.

"Remus, something happens to all girls once a month, and we're not ashamed of it. It can't be worse than that." Alice snorted. Remus felt heat rising up in his cheeks. He definitely didn't want to discuss that topic - something Lily had assumed the last time he'd tried to tell her. He took a deep breath.

"I'm a werewolf."

Marlene made a derogatory sound.

"Yeah right, and I'm a Basilisk." Remus saw an opportunity and took it.

"Well, damn it. Guess you guys are too smart to fall for that prank." He felt James start beside him. Remus suddenly lost control of his tongue due to shock, and started rambling. "Even though I'm clearly not a werewolf, I've managed to convince Sirius I am, and James here managed to get Sirius to tell him one of his homemade spells, a pretty handy spell for conjuring illusions-"

"But none of you three can do magic yet, so you want one of us to do it. Sure, I'm up for it. It'll be funny, and I'm longing to get Sirius back. That one time in fifth year… I've never been able to look at baubles again, not after what he transfigure them into." Marlene finished. Remus grinned.

"Great! Here's what you need to do…" The girls gathered round the three boys as Remus explained the plan.

That night, Remus and James swapped beds. Luckily, the Marauders did this quite a bit, since they were all so close, and to put it into James's words, "So we don't all hex each other before Christmas. Remus let James, Peter and Marlene into the en-suite bathroom before Sirius came up to bed, and Lily and Alice would peer through the door. Obviously it wasn't a full moon, so they obscured the windows with heavy net curtains. Finally Sirius fell asleep, just one minute short of midnight. Remus rolled his eyes and refrained from making an annoyed sound. He'd forgotten how long it took for Sirius to fall asleep. Without making a sound, he signaled Marlene in the bathroom. She poked her wand out the door, and whispered " _Enlusio!"_ An image of a werewolf appeared between the beds and Remus rolled off, making a thump on the floor.

Sirius opened his eyes with a start and slowly rolled over. "Remus…you've been my friend for six years now, you know I need my beauty sl- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He scrambled out of bed, and pressed up against the wall, dramatically whimpering 'Help… help me!" Remus just couldn't hold it in anymore. He, and his fellow conspirers, burst out laughing at Sirius's reaction, while the fake werewolf disappeared when Marlene completely lost control and doubled over, a position now imitated by the rest of the gang. Sirius gave them all a death glare and pushed himself away from the wall, brushing himself off with as much dignity he could muster. It was a while before Alice could straighten up again.

"Merlin, Sirius, I can't believe you fell for that, especially when you knew there was no way _Remus_ could be a werewolf." Sirius looked uncertainly at his friends, who made 'just roll with it' motions with their hands. Lily wiped tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Well, I've got to write to Mary. She already was annoyed about having to go to the Alps for Christmas, and she'll be so envious when she hears what we've been up to!" Lily exited, closely followed by Marlene and Alice. Sirius turned on his friends.

"I'm going to assume Remus came up with this idea, am I right?" They all nodded. "Well, mate, it was a great prank, but I'm a bit confused about why you didn't tell the girls about your, ah, 'furry little problem'." Remus shrugged.

"Guess I didn't feel like sharing it yet." The other three Marauders grinned.

"You'd better watch your back, mate, you'll be pranked next." Sirius threw this remark over his shoulder at Remus, who rolled his eyes. All four got into bed in their respective rooms, not wanting an irate Mrs Potter waking them up in the morning with complaints about late night pranks, and reasonable bed times. Mrs Potter was amazing, but she could sometimes be a bit too, well, motherly.

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 **Author's Note: Okay, so I had a lot of fun writing this, and I know it's a bit late. I promise the next two chapters will be uploaded at least by the end of next week - Christmas! (Well, that came on time.) I will probably be crucified for this, but the prank on Peter is in the next chapter, and the prank on Remus, and incidentally, Lily, Marlene, Alice and James' mother, will be in the last chapter. Trust me, with my two accomplices, it's gonna be SPECTACULAR.**


	3. Wormtail

**Author's Note: Okay, so I had a lot of fun writing this, and I know it's a bit late. I promise the next two chapters will be uploaded at least by the end of next week - Christmas! (Well, that came on time.) I will probably be crucified for this, but the prank on Peter is in the next chapter, and the prank on Remus, and incidentally, Lily, Marlene, Alice and James' mother, will be in the last chapter. Trust me, with my two accomplices, it's gonna be SPECTACULAR.**

Chapter 3 - Wormtail

Little Peter Pettigrew had just sat down at the the breakfast table, opened his Daily Prophet (He was getting it delivered and it was good to keep up with the latest, if horrifying, news from the Wizarding World) and was just scanning the front page when his three best mates slammed onto the bench opposite him. James was looking miserable because he a cut his hand really badly on a knife in the kitchen last night.

"Hi James, Sirius, Remus," nodded Peter, still reading his newspaper," You guys are quiet today…" Peter trailed off as he caught sight of his friends grave expressions.

"What wrong?" he asked hurriedly.

"I'm really sorry Peter," began James," because I know you don't like Quidditch, but the team was desperate, and if I hadn't put a name down we'd have had to play the girls without a Chaser, which would be mortifying, and my hand really hurts from where I cut it last night and-"

"Oh, ok," said Peter,"whose name did you put down?" Remus raised his eyebrows and looked at the ceiling, Sirius shook his head and James grimaced.

"Yours," he said. At the terrified look on Peter's face he quickly said "But don't worry, I'm going to give you lessons in preparation for the Girls Vs Boys match in two days."

"B-but Sirius and Remus are _much_ better than me at Quidditch, why couldn't t-they play?" Peter asked, feeling sick.

Sirius had a look of indignance on his face.

"Wormtail, what do you think we're doing? I'm the beater, and Remus is Keeper. Of course, we're not playing Seeker, since there aren't enough of us, but you're the last resort." He gave him the puppy dog eyes, which only the strongest-willed (James in a good mood) could resist. Trembling, Peter asked "So w-when do y-you want to do the f-first practice?" shakily.

"How about," said James, looking at his watch," ten minutes? You can use my broom."

Peter's eyes widened, and he jumped up from the table, leaving his breakfast - he wasn't hungry now - and rushed up the stairs to the dormitories, missing completely the barely contained laughter and shark-like grins on his friends faces.

An hour later, Peter was standing on the moor behind the Potter house with James' broom and a terrified feeling in his belly - he hated flying. Sirius was there, and so was James - Remus however, was indoors, reading. This didn't help Wormtail's confidence.

By the time Peter had gotten changed and grasped the courage to come outdoors, James and Sirius (Well Sirius did most of the charms, but James couldn't help but do some sneaky helping when he was sure his Mother wasn't looking) had jinxed the broom so it would fly all over the place- jerkily up and down and side to side- and charmed it to make sure that Peter (who was their friend after all) wouldn't fall off.

"Finally! Me and Sirius were about to give up and come back in!" At this Peter looked up hopefully as if to say- 'can we go back in then?'- but alas, James continued "But at least you are here now. Let's get started!" James summoned his old broom (it wasn't really old, a new model had come out and James had got it for his birthday) and handed it to a quivering Peter.

"I thought you said you couldn't ride?" Peter asked, bewildered.

"Ah- um.. It doesn't hurt too much, but the girl's play is intense, and holding on too hard would send my hand into spasms of pain- so that wouldn't really work" Sirius bit back his grin and said to Peter

"Come on then, better to get it over and down with. On the count of three." Peter gripped his broom tightly, his body was rigid.

"One" Sirius said

"Two…" James said

"It's ok Peter! There's only a 1 in 542 chance in you falling off and gaining any life-threatening injuries!" Remus shouted encouragingly from the chair outside the house.

"Three!" And on that, all three of them shot up into the air, Peter looking only _slightly_ out of control. But that soon changed.

Peter swerved left to right, barely holding onto the broom let alone the Quaffle!

"Sorry mate, didn't think it would act like that. Strange really- it _is_ a Cleansweep Seven. Only bought it end of last year. Ah well. You're better than we credit you for at this! C'mon, shall we have another game?" James said slinging his arm round Peter's shoulder. Peter, thoroughly encouraged and starting to enjoy it nodded, vaguely enthusiastically.

"REMUS!" Sirius shouted. "Of for Merlin's sake. Stuck in a book. I'll go get him."

While Sirius wandered off to find Remus, the girls walked on to the pitch, chatting and wearing some spare Quidditch stuff that the boys had lent them. Peter felt James freeze beside him, and looked up to see his jaw hanging open. Lily had evidently put a charm on the robes, because they were quite figure-hugging, and Peter had had experience of James' reactive imagination. He ducked out from under his arm.

"Well, boys, ready to get hammered?" Lily called out cheerfully. James snapped out of his stupor and snorted.

"You? Hammer us? I think you're forgetting who you're talking to here, darling." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Since you're not playing and half of your team isn't here, I'd say we've got a good chance." James just smirked.

"Speak of the devils, look who's here!" Sirius had arrived, dragging Remus by the elbow.

"He was reading!" he said, looking disgusted. "READING, I tell you, honestly!" James looked at Peter.

"You go warm up, while I talk some sense into this guy. He's obviously not taking this seriously enough. I mean, it would be a criminal offence to be beaten by a bunch of girls." The girls rolled their eyes and watched Peter carefully and critically, albeit slightly bemused, as he took off. _I'll show them,_ Peter thought, and he made to do a risky dive around the makeshift goalposts James and Sirius had erected, completely forgetting his broom had been acting up all day. He tried to pull his broom down, but it just kept climbing.

"HELP!" Peter screamed, already about 10 ft high, and climbing fast. To his fright, neither James nor Sirius appeared to have heard him.

"HELP! HELP ME!" Peter hollered again. This time, they heard him, and swooped up with cackles of laughter echoing around. Sirius tapped the broom with his wand, as much as he could without falling off his broom, and Peter's broom immediately became cooperative again. Peter glared at James suspiciously.

"I thought you couldn't fly."

With a grin, James unwrapped his heavily bandaged hand. There was no cut. Peter was temporarily speechless - he realised he had completely walked right into this prank. So he started laughing with the other two.

"All Moony's idea of course. If I'd known he was this good at coming up with pranks, even when we aren't allowed magic, I would've employed him for more of the pranks on Snivellus. Still might, actually." For a minute, James looked thoughtful. But then his evil grin, identical to the one Sirius had plastered all over his face, came springing back. "Don't worry, Pete, we have a more evil plan for him." As James and Sirius informed him of the finer details of the prank, Peter couldn't keep in a snort of laughter.

"Oh, that's going to be hilarious."

When they finally got back to the ground, the girls were looking at him with a disapproving look in their eyes.

"That was awful, what you did to Peter." Lily said sniffily. Sirius shrugged.

"Come on Lily, we're Marauders! Pete knows how to take a joke." Marlene looked at them, her eyes narrowed.

"What were you talking about for so long up there anyway?" James smirked.

"Ask us no questions, and we'll tell you no lies. Anyway, I smell my mum's cookies, and trust me, you want to eat her cookies."


	4. Moony

**Okay, I promise this will be good. Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. But me and my friend do own these parodies of certain traditional Christmas carols. We totally own them - mostly. Not really. But you get what I'm saying.**

Chapter 4: Remus

The first thing Remus realised when he woke up, was that he was alone in his room. This in itself was unusual, since Sirius slept until noon on a normal holiday, and if he woke up early, would spray Remus with water. Especially since Sirius hadn't got much sleep last he remembered the reason Sirius hadn't fallen asleep until 3 in the morning. Today was Christmas Day. Of course. Sirius would be bouncing on the girl's beds. He trotted next door, to find the girls still waking up.

"Sorry, but have you seen any of the boys? I thought they might have come in here to wake you up." Lily shook her head.

"No. Why would they do that?" Remus raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Oh, right, Sirius. Shall we go find the hyperactive toddlers that probably are currently rampaging around the house?" Remus laughed and motioned in front.

"After you, ladies."

The Marauders weren't in the dining rooms. Or their bedrooms. Or Mrs Potter's bedroom. Or even the underground cellar, which only Remus could look in, since it was banned to anyone but the Marauders. They also checked all the spare rooms, all the toilets and bathrooms, and the living rooms. Until Lily pulled them to a stop before the antechamber, where the brooms and _the presents_ were kept.

"Come on, this is the only room we haven't checked, and I'm not going outside on Christmas Day," Marlene yawned. Remus rolled his eyes.

"This is where the presents are kept. It's locked."

Alice looked at him, smirking.

"And are we witches or not?" She proceeded to tap the door with her wand. Remus refrained from rolling his eyes again.

"Well, yeah, but so's Mrs Pot-" His mouth fell open as the door swung. Alice grinned.

"Never underestimate a seventeen-year-old witch." All three girls entered the antechamber, and stopped dead. Remus followed them, and when he saw what they were gaping at he groaned,"Oh no."

A dog, stag and rat were sitting in the antechamber.

"Oh no. OH NO. Nope. Definitely not." He sighed and the girls giggled. "It's my turn, isn't it. Damn, you guys are torturing me. I will not reveal, no, no," He muttered under his breath. The dog came up towards him and playfully bit his foot and then nuzzled his lower leg. Padfoot sat down on Remus' foot defiantly and the Rat ran up the dog's back and up Remus' leg. Suddenly it was on his shoulder. The stag appeared at his shoulder. Was it even _possible_ to apparate in animagus form? It put its front hooves on Remus' shoulder. Suddenly they started squeaking, barking and grunting (Respective to the creature). 'Uh oh' Remus thought as the girls' giggling increased. He was utterly bewildered. Suddenly, there was a pop and then there was a full grown Sirius sitting on his foot. And then another pop left James with his hands on Remus' shoulder dramatically. The girls were leaning against the wall to stop them from falling over from laughing so hard. Remus opened his mouth in shock and realisation as a final pop sounded from by his ear. Peter was sitting on his shoulder! He buckled under the weight of his friend. This was the last straw for the girls _and_ the Marauders. Alice and Marlene fell on top of each other, tripping Lily up on the way. She fell into James and he valiantly caught her. It didn't matter really though because the Marauders' straight faces had turned into massive grins just as Remus fell. Sirius ended up at the bottom of the pile, then Remus, James, Lily and finally a flailing Peter on top. Arms and legs everywhere! No one made efforts to move, except do they could breathe, even when the singing began.

" _For Moony's a jolly good werewolf,_

 _For Moony's a jolly good werewolf,_

 _For Moony's a jolly good werewolf..!"_ Alice, Marlene and Lily looked at him, shock (though not as strong as Remus would've thought) evident on their faces, their mouths shaping the word _werewolf_. Remus cringed. This would be the end of him. But Alice and Marlene were suddenly pulled into the scrum, and started screeching with mirth. Lily just shook her head in astonishment.

Alice, Marlene and Peter abruptly went silent. Remus followed but Sirius and James were still laughing, unaware of the sudden silence. "BOYYYSSS!" Euphemia Potter was standing in the doorway: she wasn't impressed. She didn't seem to be worried about the fact they were singing about werewolves, she already knew about Remus' condition. It was the fact they were in with the presents that she was most annoyed about. (She hadn't yet noticed Lily sitting on James' lap). She gave them all a most thorough scolding, assisted by Marlene's mum. "James, your Father is working on a very difficult potion that could secure your financial future!" She turned to Camila, "Children these days… no respect!" The children exchanged a look. "Now, out of there, you've done enough damage, I haven't even finished wrapping them! Go on, Off You Scoot!"

As soon as they were out the door, Remus started babbling. "I'm not _really_ a werewolf. I mean what are the chances… They are just playing a trick….Don't they always!... uhhh… YOu said it yourself: If I'm a werewolf you're a basilisk… and-"

"Remus, it's ok-" Marlene said.

"You would know by now-" Remus' eyes were wide- and he was obviously panicking.

"Yes we do. It's ok!" Alice said. James and Sirius and Peter were trying to calm their friend down. They all shot Lily a look. She carefully walked over to Remus who was wringing his hands worriedly.

"I-I-uhh-I-" Remus was muttering- mainly to himself now.

"Remus, it's ok. We know! WE figured it in fifth year! Well, we had our suspicions. We know you- and you're not a bad person! Come on then- you have to admit, it was quite funny!" Now Remus was calmer- he remembered the trick. It _was_ pretty funny. He remembered James catching Lily when she fell, and then back to when he overheard the girls talking about their crushes…

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 **Did you like it? Please review (also there will be some more about the next year of Christmas holiday where the girls get pranked)**


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